I think that 3dfx is betting on fill rate over T&L, and I think they have a logical argument. On "slow" processors (500 mhz and below, I cringe when I call that slow, but anyhow.) the NVidia GForce card is king of the heap, but when you get to about 700 mhz, the ATI Maxx, with dual chips and high fill rate, actually blows it out of the water (I think it was ww.anandtech.com where I saw this, it you want to go look.) So the GForce is already being surpassed by CPU speed before it is even really released.
With this new multichip capable architecture, 3dfx can create cards that scale with the new processors that are coming out in the next year or so. That way, they can ramp this design, and keep up in the market without spending a lot of time on R&D. Companies that go with T&L will have to make sure the T&L GPU speed keeps up with the new processors, or they will have a huge pile of "outdated" cards sitting in their warehouses.
For the upgrade market, T&L is a great idea. It is also good for multitasking graphics environments, like 3D design. But for "hardcore gamers", that tend to have close to the cutting edge in CPU speed, a multichip high fill rate design is the best way to go. This is especially true for the graphics card manufacturer who wants to make a profit.
Does this mean that you won't be able to download the "Standard" or "Deluxe" editions? Are they going to do the "half the product for free, but the cool stuff costs money" approach, like they have with all their other downloads?
If they do this, and stuff that's left out is GPL, won't there be mirrors of the other editions on other sites? Or a distribution which is based on Corel, that gains a new name?
I don't want to open a can of worms here, but I'm just curious whether they will be playing this game, or whether they'll have the Deluxe editions available for download, like other companies do.
You cannot copyright ideas. A patent protects ideas, a copyright protects a particular interpretation or wording of an idea. That is what seperates patents from copyrights.
This is a pretty cool idea. However, the best versions of Tru64 and its apps are for Alpha processors. Though this would be a cool learning tool, I can't afford to buy an Alpha machine for home (though I'd love to have one.)
It's absolutely possible to make a disk without the region codes - they are a side product of the encryption. Simply don't encrypt the movie, and it will play wherever. I know some people may not like this solution, but the encryption is, and always will be, a joke anyway.
The wired article mentions that they are considering upgrading the encryption format on DVD's to make them more secure. I think this is completely pointless. All it will do is create a short window of time before the encryption is cracked again. In order to make the decryption fast enough for playback in real time, you are, by definition, making it crackable in an equally reasonable amount of time. This is especially true because of the constantly increasing speed of computers.
Think of it this way - for satellite communications, we commonly use frequencies around the 20Ghz range. Based on the continuous miniturization of chips, and improvement of semiconductors, we should be able to lock a microprocessor to these types of frequencies. It may take 10 or 20 years to get to that point (if this society doesn't self destruct by then) but we should eventually have computers that are this insanely fast.
My point is, that you can't make a player that is fast enough to decrypt something in real time, and make that same data very hard to crack. So it's really just a pointless race of changing standards way too often just to protect the greed of the people producing movies.
I say - just leave it the way it is. And maybe even make the later released foreign versions completely unencrypted. I know the IP "owners" may not be fond of this, but they are fighting a pointless battle.
Actually, DVD writers are NOT expensive. I bought a Toshiba 2x DVD-RAM/DVD-R writer for under $500. That's pretty cheap, especially since I saved myself the purchase of a tape drive.
It only does 2.6/5.2 Gig, but with only 2x compression, you could get a 4.7gig movie on it.
One thing, though - blank DVD's are more expensive (in small quantities) than DVD movies. A blank DVD is about 25-35 dollars, whereas most movies are less than 25 dollars. So it's not really cost effective, at the moment, to copy DVD's. Now converting them to VCD format and putting them on an 87 cent blank CD would be feasible, with a slight loss in quality.
Anyone remember Empire? That would be a great game to have on the Palm. You could play it in turn based multiplayer and beam your turns back and forth. However, the whole game was based on color coding (Red Team, Yellow Team, etc.) so I'm not sure if you could work it in BW. I actually got into Empire a lot more than Civilization.
The first computer I played SimCity on was an AMD 286/16 with 1 meg of RAM. It was plenty fast. The only complaint I had was that the landscape was too small - you could fill up the entire map in about 12 hours or so of play. Of course, then you had things like population growth and pollution and transportation, and that kinda stuff to deal with. But it was never quite as fun once the map was full. The 68030 equivalent in the Palm should run this game really well. I may have to get this.
If you cool it well enough, you can overclock the 550 to 733, by changing the FSB setting. However, the Athlon can be overclocked also, by FSB and Multiplier, though the multiplier setting requires a soldering iron and a lot of guts. But at least it's possible. I'm personally going to choose the Athlon.
(As an aside...I find it disturbing that I see "The site is heavily loaded already" from the person who SUBMITS the article.
You say that like Slashdot is the only site on the internet that gets any hits. It really IS possible for a site to be crowded before Slashdot gets ahold of it. Especially on something this cool.
As far as the 256 color screen, I think with a resolution of only a few thousand pixels, 256 colors is plenty. And I think keeping the OS simple and non-bloated is a good idea.
I think that they should be able to implement this in such a way that battery life is not a problem. Maybe a rechargable battery that is removable to put in AA batteries. I had a Motorola walkie talkie that was like this. You use the rechargable for day to day use, and AA batteries if you need to take a long trip into the forest or something.
A couple of years ago I had a Compaq Aero 486/33 with a 340 meg hard drive. It was a really useful machine. With this screen and an IBM microdrive, I could have the same power in a PalmPilot.
Now all we need is to port Corel Draw to the palm.... (That's what I usually ran on my Aero.)
I need this. Some applications just aren't fast enough on a 300 mhz processor. I have a recording studio where we record to a PC hard drive. Noise reduction on a 350 mhz machine takes about 15-20 minutes per track. On a 1 Ghz machine, this would only take 5 minutes or so. Big difference. Could turn a 2 hour mixdown into about half an hour.
The problem is, that many rich people are "weineeheads" (for lack of a better term) for behaviorial reasons, not genetic reasons. So they spend all this money on genetic engineering, and their kids turn out to be weineeheads anyway. What a waste of bucks. Anyhow....
Actually, the interface, the multimedia code, and the DirectX/Gaming code came almost directly from Windows 95. All of these are just as susceptible to security flaws as the rest of the system.
There are a few more solutions that you could go with.
The first company I would check out is SEK'D. (http://www.sekd.com/) They have a series of cards called Prodif that allow you to hook your DAT directly to your computer and transfer all tracks simultaneously. (via SPDIF or AES/EBU) The cards also include a basic version of Samplitude, which allows you to remaster and burn directly to CD.
If you have an Alesis ADAT, there is a company called Aardvark that makes the ARC 20/20+ card, which has an ADAT Optical IO interface. It also has an optical interface for Sony Minidisc, if you ever have a need for it. (www.aardvark-pro.com)
If you want 8 channel analog, by far the best deal is the Gadget Labs 8/24 card. (www.gadgetlabs.com) It is 8 channel, 24 bit, and comes with Cool Edit Pro basic (with an upgrade deal for the full version). This is what I use for my recording studio. Just hook it to the buses on your mixer board, pan everything to the seperate buses, and press record. Great stuff. Cool edit has awesome effects, noise reduction, etc. for tweaking your recordings.
This is a duplicate of something I posted above. But since you specifically asked me to "answer that my friend". Here's my answer:
Even if we use Corel's definition of distribution, this license still doesn't work. Here's why:
They put up a web site, ask for applications for testing, and send it out to people that qualify as testers, agreeing "not to distribute it". They say, relating to the GPL, that this is "not distribution."
So couldn't you put up a web site, ask for applications for testing, and send it out to whoever you deemed worthy. Under their OWN definition in getting around the GPL, this is "not distribution." So, therefore, under the same definition, anyone else doing it is "not distribution" either.
Whatever way you look at it, their license makes no sense. Either it violates the GPL, or it creates a definition of distribution which nullifies it. Based on simple logic, there is really no way this license can work.
Slashdot Mirror
We'll miss you, man. Have a nice life.
I think that 3dfx is betting on fill rate over T&L, and I think they have a logical argument. On "slow" processors (500 mhz and below, I cringe when I call that slow, but anyhow.) the NVidia GForce card is king of the heap, but when you get to about 700 mhz, the ATI Maxx, with dual chips and high fill rate, actually blows it out of the water (I think it was ww.anandtech.com where I saw this, it you want to go look.) So the GForce is already being surpassed by CPU speed before it is even really released.
With this new multichip capable architecture, 3dfx can create cards that scale with the new processors that are coming out in the next year or so. That way, they can ramp this design, and keep up in the market without spending a lot of time on R&D. Companies that go with T&L will have to make sure the T&L GPU speed keeps up with the new processors, or they will have a huge pile of "outdated" cards sitting in their warehouses.
For the upgrade market, T&L is a great idea. It is also good for multitasking graphics environments, like 3D design. But for "hardcore gamers", that tend to have close to the cutting edge in CPU speed, a multichip high fill rate design is the best way to go. This is especially true for the graphics card manufacturer who wants to make a profit.
Just an offtopic comment - I posted this at 5:52, and the time on the post says 5:01. Is the slashdot clock broke?
Does this mean that you won't be able to download the "Standard" or "Deluxe" editions? Are they going to do the "half the product for free, but the cool stuff costs money" approach, like they have with all their other downloads?
If they do this, and stuff that's left out is GPL, won't there be mirrors of the other editions on other sites? Or a distribution which is based on Corel, that gains a new name?
I don't want to open a can of worms here, but I'm just curious whether they will be playing this game, or whether they'll have the Deluxe editions available for download, like other companies do.
You cannot copyright ideas. A patent protects ideas, a copyright protects a particular interpretation or wording of an idea. That is what seperates patents from copyrights.
This is a pretty cool idea. However, the best versions of Tru64 and its apps are for Alpha processors. Though this would be a cool learning tool, I can't afford to buy an Alpha machine for home (though I'd love to have one.)
It's absolutely possible to make a disk without the region codes - they are a side product of the encryption. Simply don't encrypt the movie, and it will play wherever. I know some people may not like this solution, but the encryption is, and always will be, a joke anyway.
The wired article mentions that they are considering upgrading the encryption format on DVD's to make them more secure. I think this is completely pointless. All it will do is create a short window of time before the encryption is cracked again. In order to make the decryption fast enough for playback in real time, you are, by definition, making it crackable in an equally reasonable amount of time. This is especially true because of the constantly increasing speed of computers.
Think of it this way - for satellite communications, we commonly use frequencies around the 20Ghz range. Based on the continuous miniturization of chips, and improvement of semiconductors, we should be able to lock a microprocessor to these types of frequencies. It may take 10 or 20 years to get to that point (if this society doesn't self destruct by then) but we should eventually have computers that are this insanely fast.
My point is, that you can't make a player that is fast enough to decrypt something in real time, and make that same data very hard to crack. So it's really just a pointless race of changing standards way too often just to protect the greed of the people producing movies.
I say - just leave it the way it is. And maybe even make the later released foreign versions completely unencrypted. I know the IP "owners" may not be fond of this, but they are fighting a pointless battle.
I think this is redundant and off-topic.
However, I agree.
That's why I read moderated down posts sometimes. Sometimes just cause something is irrelevant doesn't mean you don't agree with it.
Actually, DVD writers are NOT expensive. I bought a Toshiba 2x DVD-RAM/DVD-R writer for under $500. That's pretty cheap, especially since I saved myself the purchase of a tape drive.
It only does 2.6/5.2 Gig, but with only 2x compression, you could get a 4.7gig movie on it.
One thing, though - blank DVD's are more expensive (in small quantities) than DVD movies. A blank DVD is about 25-35 dollars, whereas most movies are less than 25 dollars. So it's not really cost effective, at the moment, to copy DVD's. Now converting them to VCD format and putting them on an 87 cent blank CD would be feasible, with a slight loss in quality.
Robosport is a great game. Great idea.
Anyone remember Empire? That would be a great game to have on the Palm. You could play it in turn based multiplayer and beam your turns back and forth. However, the whole game was based on color coding (Red Team, Yellow Team, etc.) so I'm not sure if you could work it in BW. I actually got into Empire a lot more than Civilization.
The first computer I played SimCity on was an AMD 286/16 with 1 meg of RAM. It was plenty fast. The only complaint I had was that the landscape was too small - you could fill up the entire map in about 12 hours or so of play. Of course, then you had things like population growth and pollution and transportation, and that kinda stuff to deal with. But it was never quite as fun once the map was full.
The 68030 equivalent in the Palm should run this game really well. I may have to get this.
If you cool it well enough, you can overclock the 550 to 733, by changing the FSB setting. However, the Athlon can be overclocked also, by FSB and Multiplier, though the multiplier setting requires a soldering iron and a lot of guts. But at least it's possible. I'm personally going to choose the Athlon.
Sorry about the italics. I forgot the cancel tag, and the preview button.
(As an aside...I find it disturbing that I see "The site is heavily loaded already" from the person who SUBMITS the article.
You say that like Slashdot is the only site on the internet that gets any hits. It really IS possible for a site to be crowded before Slashdot gets ahold of it. Especially on something this cool.
As far as the 256 color screen, I think with a resolution of only a few thousand pixels, 256 colors is plenty. And I think keeping the OS simple and non-bloated is a good idea.
I think that they should be able to implement this in such a way that battery life is not a problem. Maybe a rechargable battery that is removable to put in AA batteries. I had a Motorola walkie talkie that was like this. You use the rechargable for day to day use, and AA batteries if you need to take a long trip into the forest or something.
A couple of years ago I had a Compaq Aero 486/33 with a 340 meg hard drive. It was a really useful machine. With this screen and an IBM microdrive, I could have the same power in a PalmPilot.
Now all we need is to port Corel Draw to the palm.... (That's what I usually ran on my Aero.)
I need this. Some applications just aren't fast enough on a 300 mhz processor. I have a recording studio where we record to a PC hard drive. Noise reduction on a 350 mhz machine takes about 15-20 minutes per track. On a 1 Ghz machine, this would only take 5 minutes or so. Big difference. Could turn a 2 hour mixdown into about half an hour.
The problem is, that many rich people are "weineeheads" (for lack of a better term) for behaviorial reasons, not genetic reasons. So they spend all this money on genetic engineering, and their kids turn out to be weineeheads anyway. What a waste of bucks. Anyhow....
Actually, the US has no official language. So pez (the Spanish word) could be considered a common word in America as well.
Just something to think about.
Actually, the interface, the multimedia code, and the DirectX/Gaming code came almost directly from Windows 95. All of these are just as susceptible to security flaws as the rest of the system.
You failed to point out WHY he was incorrect.
There are a few more solutions that you could go with.
The first company I would check out is SEK'D. (http://www.sekd.com/) They have a series of cards called Prodif that allow you to hook your DAT directly to your computer and transfer all tracks simultaneously. (via SPDIF or AES/EBU) The cards also include a basic version of Samplitude, which allows you to remaster and burn directly to CD.
If you have an Alesis ADAT, there is a company called Aardvark that makes the ARC 20/20+ card, which has an ADAT Optical IO interface. It also has an optical interface for Sony Minidisc, if you ever have a need for it. (www.aardvark-pro.com)
If you want 8 channel analog, by far the best deal is the Gadget Labs 8/24 card. (www.gadgetlabs.com) It is 8 channel, 24 bit, and comes with Cool Edit Pro basic (with an upgrade deal for the full version). This is what I use for my recording studio. Just hook it to the buses on your mixer board, pan everything to the seperate buses, and press record. Great stuff. Cool edit has awesome effects, noise reduction, etc. for tweaking your recordings.
Good Luck.
I won't. Nuf said.
Actually, the Athlon is EV6. The EV7 is Alpha's next generation, for the 21464.
Actually, you're number 42. Good job, man.
You forgot to give your e-mail address. :-)
Just kidding.
This is a duplicate of something I posted above. But since you specifically asked me to "answer that my friend". Here's my answer:
Even if we use Corel's definition of distribution, this license still doesn't work. Here's why:
They put up a web site, ask for applications for testing, and send it out to people that qualify as testers, agreeing "not to distribute it". They say, relating to the GPL, that this is "not distribution."
So couldn't you put up a web site, ask for applications for testing, and send it out to whoever you deemed worthy. Under their OWN definition in getting around the GPL, this is "not distribution." So, therefore, under the same definition, anyone else doing it is "not distribution" either.
Whatever way you look at it, their license makes no sense. Either it violates the GPL, or it creates a definition of distribution which nullifies it. Based on simple logic, there is really no way this license can work.